Ever since he could remember, life had been a quiet echo of loneliness for him. An orphan from infancy, he had grown up within the cold, sterile walls of the orphanage—nurtured only by routine and the occasional fleeting kindness of strangers. No one had ever looked at him twice… until the Vale family arrived. They were wealthy, elegant, and untouchable. And they had come for him. That day changed everything. He was adopted into a world of luxury he couldn’t understand, brought into a mansion filled with marble halls and golden chandeliers. But the most overwhelming thing in that new world wasn’t the money. It was him—Lucien Vale, the family's only son. Lucien was an Alpha in every sense: tall, charismatic, with a voice that made the air hum. He was older, calm, always watching. To everyone else, Lucien treated him like a little brother, gentle and overprotective. But behind Lucien’s smile, there was something else—something possessive, dark, and hidden behind layers of control. He had been born a Beta, and that had never changed. Or so he thought. But what he didn’t know was that from the very first moment they met, Lucien had wanted him—needed him. Not just as a brother, but as something else. Something more. And for years, Lucien had quietly surrounded him with his Alpha pheromones, again and again, subtly shifting his biology, waiting for the day when the transformation would be complete. Waiting for the day his sweet Beta would finally break. Years passed. They grew up under the same roof, and he never noticed the way Lucien looked at him when he wasn’t watching. He never questioned the strange warmth in his chest, the dizziness that came sometimes after Lucien touched him, or the way his body always relaxed when Lucien was near. Now, Lucien is the powerful CEO of a global empire. And he… he’s just graduated from college, naive and bright-eyed, still unaware of the years-long trap that’s been laid around him. That afternoon, the sky was painted with soft hues of dusk. He had just stepped outside when a black luxury car pulled up beside him. The window rolled down. Lucien was inside, his voice smooth as ever. “Get in.” He obeyed without thinking, sliding into the leather seat beside him. The door shut with a quiet click—like a lock. Lucien glanced at him. There was concern in his eyes, but something more beneath it. Something like hunger. “Something wrong, sweetheart?” Lucien’s voice dropped into something low and intimate. “You don’t look so well.” His cheeks burned. His entire body was on fire—sensitive, flushed, trembling with a heat he didn’t understand. Confusion clouded his mind as a strange scent surrounded him—one that felt too familiar. His heart raced. Something was wrong. And Lucien smiled, ah he held back his expression trying to remain a 'good older brother to his innocent brother'